If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Wambat is holding a weekly raffle giveaway of Steam games to promote the Fourth Age Total War mod and his Let's Play campaign!

Announcement: Europa Barbarorum II 2.35 released!

Greetings fans of Europa Barbarorum!

Once again, it's been a while since the last major release; indeed we'd intended this to be a "summer release", but it turns out it's closer to a Christmas release instead. Unlike professional games companies who are forced by arbitrary deadlines to drop a product regardless of how finished it is, we wanted to make sure this was a good one. The amount of playtesting and bugfixing that has gone into 2.35 dwarf that of 2.3 and earlier releases, so rest assured there will be no Day One patch. This is without doubt the most stable iteration of EBII we have ever released. We are confident that with a proper installation and doing your own research, you should have no problems finishing your campaign.

As ever, we still expect people to find things that have been overlooked; while we have new tools and more internal playtesters, there are things we may have missed, or which need a longer play-through to appreciate the impact. Use this thread to report your feedback, if you have any bugs, use the appropriate subforum. If you feel inspired enough to do a Let's Play or the like, let us know so we can promote it.

Given it's been longer in development than planned, there is an awful lot of new content. We didn't call this 2.4 because we haven't even touched one of the major goals for that release, that being to complete the remaining faction slots. Some factions have been revamped for 2.35 - either browsing the changelog or else giving them a spin will make it clear. Many factions have also had new features added, and there are 40 new units to play with across a broad swathe of the map. We think you'll find it's been worth the wait.

If you are new to EBII, please make sure you read the opening pages of the Player's Guide (included in the root of your EBII installation), and those specific pages relating to the faction you intend to play. This will give you some understanding of the features unique to that faction and give you some idea of what to look out for.

As always it's necessary to be absolutely explicit about this point:

THIS RELEASE IS NOT SAVEGAME COMPATIBLE

This is a complete installation, it's best if you remove any previous versions of EBII you have installed.

Installation instructions

Before we get into the details, it's necessary to reinforce an important point: the installation instructions are lengthy and detailed because they need to be. We gathered all this knowledge the painful way, through bitter experience of what does and doesn't work with this clunky old game and the myriad configurations of platform and medium out there. These instructions are not optional, if you do not follow the right ones for your machine, it is highly likely the game will not function properly. If you do not follow the instructions and get issues, we will not be able to help you until you've conformed with the instructions.

These appear in the Player's Guide which is bundled with EBII, but for completeness they are repeated here.

1. M2TW Installation Instructions

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

CD/DVD

1) [Mac and Linux] it is assumed that you have the Feral Interactive version of M2TW Kingdoms. For people who do NOT have the Feral Interactive version, you will need wine to run the game.

2) Install Medieval 2 Total War and the Kingdoms expansion (at least 1 mod) outside of C:\Program Files. Use a short directory such as C:\M2TW as an example.

1) [Mac and Linux] Steam has the Feral Interactive version of M2TW Kingdoms which will run better on your operating system. You still need to complete the post installation instructions after installing M2TW Kingdoms and Europa Barbarorum II.

2) Do NOT Install Medieval 2 Total War and the Kingdoms expansion in the standard library C:\Program Files\Steam...

Steam Menu > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > Add Library Folder >Select a different drive other than C:\ our example will be “F:\”(It is recommended to use a different drive if you have one, otherwise use C:\) > add New folder and name it something short such as “Steam Games”. The new library should be “F:\Steam Games”

4) Install or move Medieval 2 Total War and the Kingdoms expansion in your new Steam Library “F:\Steam Games”

Install
You can make “F:\Steam Games” the default install before you download Medieval 2 Total War and the Kingdoms expansion, then change it back when you are done. Steam Menu > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > right click “F:/Steam Games” > Make Default Folder.

[Mac] Mac users are assumed to have wine to run the installer exe with. If not there is a ZIP version to download which means you will not have to use the exe.

1) Uninstall any previous versions of EBII (there's a shortcut for it in your start menu).

2) The downloaded file is a zip archive, which means you need to unpack the installer files from the zip file. Windows Explorer should allow you to simply copy the contents out. If not, you can download 7-zip for the purpose.

3) Run EBII.exe

4) Step through the install wizard. Make sure the installer is pointed at your M2TW directory such as in our CD example “C:\Games\M2TW”or Steam example “F:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Medieval 2 Totalwar”You need to change it from the default if it is pointing at Program Files.

5) Wait for the installer to copy all the files.

6) If you did not start a M2TW vanilla campaign after installing it, run that now. Start a campaign from Medieval.exe, then quit.

7) Run the mod using the shortcut placed in your start menu or desktop.
[Steam] You will need to insert a short code (4. Starting EB2 for the first time)

[Mac & Linux] If you do NOT have Feral Interactive M2TW You will need wine to launch the mod using the wine console command. (4. Starting EB2 for the first time)

The Error Log
Make sure your error log is working properly so you can properly report any issues.

Open this file, [your M2TW directory]\mods\EBII\EBII.cfg with Notepad++ and make sure it has this code:
[log]to = mods\ebii\logs\eb.system.log.txt#level = * tracelevel = * error

This means the log will be stored as eb.system.log.txt in [your M2TW directory]\mods\EBII\logs\. We will need this log any time you report an error.

If you get a consistent reoccurring error change the code to:[log]to = mods\ebii\logs\eb.system.log.txtlevel = * trace

This will record every process the game makes and hopefully help us identify the exact causes. Don't forget to change it back when you are done because this detailed level of recording takes up lots of memory and causes crashes.

The Error Log is often very large so compressing it into .zip or .rar archives is a good idea.

Windowed, borderless mode
It's highly recommended that you play on windowed, borderless mode. It will increase the stability of the game. Open this file, [your M2TW directory]\mods\EBII\EBII.cfg with Notepad++ and make sure it has this code:

[video]
windowed = 1
borderless_window = 1

If "1" doesn't work, try "true" instead. Note you'll have to enter your native resolution in there to get a proper-sized window. You also need to ensure your medieval2.preferences.cfg doesn't have conflicting values.

Alternatively, we've bundled a windowed mode/fullscreen mode switcher program in with the installation, it looks thus:

All you should need to do is click the Windowed button.

Auto Save Corruption
The game auto saves at the end of every turn but it there is a chance of corrupting the save file and crashing the game. Autosave can not be relied upon to save a long campaign.Open this file, [your M2TW directory]\mods\EBII\EBII.cfg with Notepad++ and make sure it has this code under [Game]: Auto_save = 0

Save often and keep a trail of saves. You can use Ctrl+S for quicksave

6. Older Software & RAM addressing

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Old Software
It's common users encounter technical issues while using old software like M2TW. It's only designed to address 2GB of RAM regardless of the users actual hardware capabilities and that limitation can cause stability problems with large mods like EB2.

There are 3rd party utilities which can address this problem, but there might be legal ramifications and any software modification is potentially problematic, so users should do their own research and make their own independent decisions.

Memory Leaks
The game will increasingly hog more memory as the turns pass by. After a few hours the game may crash or cause the graphics to switch around. If you see buttons that are replaced with faces or buildings immediately save the game and quit to avoid imminent crash. It is a good idea to save and quit every few hours to empty out the memory.

Keep error log on *error
In the [your M2TW directory]\mods\EBII\EBII.cfg file you should be playing with the following code that is set to log errors only:

Though it is useful for tracking down consistent errors, don't leave it on when you are enjoying the game.

[Optional]Post-installation modifications

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Different Captains to Generals in the campaign

2.35 has a complete set of "Captains" that are different from the Generals. However, they are disabled, because the file in question, the descr_character is an either/or choice. Either you have proper generals in Custom Battle, multiplayer and historical battles (and no distinction between Captains and Generals in the campaign), or you can get a distinction between Generals and Captains in campaign battles only (but in the other three you always see Captains).

If you want the latter, download this and put it in your mods\ebii\data\ folder: descr_character.txt

As always, back up your file so you can revert before you apply this. Note this is NOT savegame compatible.

Links

There are two versions of the files, one with an installer, the other a simple zip file. The links are here:

Saba/Nabatea:
- Improved Saba Reform (new message, can be triggered from any one of three South Arabian city-level settlements (not the capital), requires ownership of 6 provinces)
- Plugged southern Arabian recruitment gap in saba_bond
- Adds building description for top level Nabatean gov
- Adds Nabatu-specific triggers to make Nabatu DesertWarriors more common and GoodTrader specific triggers for settlements important to Nabatean trade routes
- Changes Nabatu FL trait from just Malek to Malek Nabatu and includes attested aramaic Mlk Nbtw un-vowelized form in trait description
- Various improvements to triggers and stats for pet_lion ancillary

East Greeks (Seleukids, Ptolemaioi, Baktria, Bosporans):
- Seleukids no longer start allied with Hayasdan and Taksashila
- Added some levy pools that were missing in Hellenistic governments
- Adjustment to native pools on Kypros
- Adds 30+ new East Greek campaign map voice files & activates two Phalangitai unit voices
- Added some more terminating conditions to the Baktrian missions and made it possible to succeed at the second mission before triggering it in the normal sequence
- Added a Skythai spawn for the "patient" path for the Bosporan player
- Bosporan governments updated
- Changed trigger for Bosporan Early Events to holding Khersonesos
- Codified enmity between Philadelphos and Gonatas (for human player of either faction only)
- More camelry in western Arabia
- Revised Family Trees for Seleukids and Ptolemies designed to "keep the Royal ethnicity alive"
- Adds biographies for all underage Seleukid and Ptolemaic males
- Appends "Akitu" message to the bottom of the Babylon Ziggurat unique as a player reference
- Alters the Ptolemaioi Spartan Intervention script to restrict expansion in Hellas
- Improves & fixes Seleukid "pothos" trait
- New "Themison" ancillary for underage Antiochos II
- Revises strategy sections for all Basilike Patris govs

West Greeks (Makedonia, Koinon Hellenon, Epeiros, Pergamon):
- Adds 180+ new or revised Greek Unit voices
- New models and textures for Hoplitai
- Adds 8 new Hellenic ancillaries (concepted in 2006 by Teleklos Archelaou)
- Epirote/Makedonian rivalry stops triggering if either Pyrrhos or Antigonos is dead
- Removes Phalangitai from kh7/kh8
- Update of the Spartan Intervention mission
- New campaign description for the KH
- Adds new KH age-trait system (the Helikia, called KHCitizen in build), alongside Eromenos, Erastes, Peripolos traits and the KHSocial hidden tracking trait
- Adds new Hipparkhos unique ancillary for KH, with new Banner-based ancillary icon
- Adds new KHCitizen trait to all starting KH FMs with appropriate age-related levels
- Updated KH reform failsafes not to trigger if the player already has them
- Adds Nauarkhos, Hipparkhos and Strategos (FL upgrade) traits, with term limits for Nauarkhos and Hipparkhos
- Adds new unique Nauarkhos and Hipparkhos ancillaries
- Adds Neos tratis and triggers
- Rework of Epirote ethnicities
- Added a native pool to the kh6
- Proxenos mission for KH Gerons added
- Adds new Aner trait for Presbutes to KH
- Adds the last set of KH office traits
- Adds strategy sections to KH event messages

Eastern (Pontos, Pahlava, Hayasdan):
- Adds 7 new Babylonian Ancillaries (for factions in Eastern provinces)
- Pahlavan reform now works properly
- Hayastan now has merc-hoplite-hiring pre-reform
- Update to Hai governments (they gain two new ones and upgrade paths change)
- New Armenian, Pontos, & Parthian Gov icons (all are now "Eastern" style)
- Total rewrite of all Caucasus pools
- Added siege weapons to hay_royal
- Script tweaks to Hayastan second capital mechanics
- Added Pontos to the list of factions able to build zurkaneh
- New name for top-tier Hay government
- Adds description for Hai Ancestral Capital and a new infant FM (with biography trigger)
- Fixes for the Iberia (Kartli) Rises script
- Avoids a CTD by adding text for when the player as Hayastan takes Mtskheta
- Adds new Hayastan mission to liberate Mazaka
- New opening message for Pontos and reworking of all Pontic missions
- Revises strategy sections for most Pontos gov-types (the old ones were wrong)
- Small revision to the Pontic Royal family (to prevent dilution of royal ethnicity)
- Ethnicity requirement for governors of the Pontic Hypobasileia (Royal Province)

- Updated "Player's Guide" with extensive new guidance on reforms, missions, and faction society events (page count increases from 114 to 160)
- Implements a completely revised economic system (accommodates buildings with "income_bonus bonus") to include comments in the Wall/Camp descriptions explaining the new income settings
- Adds all-new "After Alexandros" series of battles to the Historical Battles section. There are 65(!) battles available, listed in chronological sequence, not all of them take place in Hellas and the east.
- Changes successor system from script to ancillary based and revises opening message accordingly (new system cannot be broken)
- Complete voice audio overhaul for all factions, both campaign and battle map (all files have been compressed and equalised at the same decibel level)
- Battle ambience files reduced in volume by 8 dB to improve "in battle" audibility of voicefiles
- Major project to collapse the number of folders in unit_model (f/e Romans are now three folders instead of 14) - from 263 folders to 62.
- Massive unit rename (applies to "code" names only). Replaces "native names" in data names with simpler English ones
- Revises the naval unit system to change the balance of play and to include many new unit descriptions. Fleets are no longer an optional extra if you have ports.
- Completely revised skill triggers and training for Diplomats (they now progress or regress correctly, and training is not automatic)
- Deletes 80+ unused (old) unit models and files
- Removes 12 redundant unit cards
- Removed the difficulty-related normalisation of relations
- Rewrote the AI-switch script
- Raised WarWeariness threshold from 6 to 7
- Increased chance of factions switching back to a "warlike" stance
- Hoplite/phalangite re-hire script now only appears when the player can actually use it
- Removed can_swim from various units (non-functional attribute)
- Added Hayastan and Carthage to the notification for Greek military reforms
- Charakene becomes Mesene
- Added settlement-independent Treasury clawback monitor for hording factions
- Updates to raiding scripts and hording
- Tweaks Brave trait effects, raises Sacrilegious L1 threshold from 2 to 4, changes Feck effects from Chivalry to TroopMorale, raised threshold of Bardos from 2 to 3, makes a new Anti-trigger for client rulers and the IberianRite trait, adds two new Authority related FL triggers to the existing system
- Dedan is now a p_large_city
- Native pools for Anatolia/Galatia in all factional governments updated
- Big overhaul of recruitment in Illyria (now all the Illyrian and Thraikian provinces have individualised recruitment)
- Mikra Skythia now separate from Skythia/Dacia pools
- Update of recruitment from Syria to Afghanistan, everything in hidden_resource eastern and baktria rewritten
- Western steppe recruitment rewritten
- Reworked Illyrian and Thracian pools - plugged hole in Epidamnos and Histria is now different
- Reworked Dacian and Skythian pools (Mikra Skythia now distinct from both) and also reworked Bosporan pools
- Rewritten pools for Anatolia, Caucasus, Syria to Afghanistan, western steppe
- Adds Embezzler trait for huge treasuries to help cutdown on player cash for big empires
- Adds a number of triggers for pre-existing secondary traits and tweaks/fixes a number of pre-existing triggers
- Changes settlement requirement for Road Garrison 2 & 3 from town to large town
- Elephant recruitment updated (Except in India, higher level elephants are only available from the new "Elephant Stables" building)
- Elephant capture script added
- Carnyx/Horn/Trompas files remastered (lower volume)
- Changed L5 Temple pre-req to Large City
- New Kautilya quote
- Adds 2 new Province descriptions (Elymais and Liguria) & updates fauna descriptions for most European provinces
- Adds new Province description (Syrthim), a Strategy section for Raition, and "geographically correct" province pix for Nikron
- Adds one Province descriptions (Trinakrie) and 10 Strabo province descriptions (all provinces now have text)
- Upgrade path to and composition of Band of Mercenaries revised
- Marginal areas limited to polis_one and helcol_one rather than enabling diminishing returns. Marginal pools deleted from polis_two/three
- Added upgrade path for Mikra Skythia in polis_two/helcol_two
- Paths to helcol_three and helcol_ref now updated. Only selected places can upgrade to helcol_three, the remainder can go to helcol_ref after the ThorakitaiReform (should no longer be places that will allow you to build a helcol, yet provide no units outside of the first tier)
- Added trade bonus to province_065 switched on by the Tocharian Horses event
- Adjustments to Ferghana mission (now only triggers if player doesn't own it)
- Numerous settlement/region name-changes
- Tweaks jeweler triggers to make them more achievable, tweaks and adds new Embezzler triggers and effects, adds Cheapskate triggers
- New xenophobia/xenophilia triggers
- Central Asian mercenary events added
- Switched unit for African Client to Ethiopian Axeman
- Reconfigures Port Garrison bonus structure
- Revises the "Allied Gov" icon for six Barbarian factions (the old one was almost identical to the "Confed" series)
- New native cavalry unit in Ioudaia, so not all Arabian
- Small tweaks to eastcol and building upgrade path for Roman Colony
- Increased pirate spawn chance
- Province renamed (Aestuwa > Aisitrenta)
- Descaims (capital of Wenetwa province) renamed to Gallwagardas
- Province renamed (Landadexsiuo Boioi > Konnion Boion)
- Deletes 190+ unused voice files and activates another 25+ that were dormant due to text file issues
- Various edits and new descriptions for existing traits
- Adds new "merc info" effectless traits to further explain mercenary service mechanics and ensures there are age limits on all merc traits
- Standardized EDB indents to use tabs rather than spaces
- Deletes 370+ unused animations
- Several text edits to clarify the distinction between Causcasian Iberia (Kartli) and the better known Western Iberia (Spain/Portugal)
- Adds "License" file to music folder for proper crediting of composers and with license & distribution information
- Reinstates the "prec" attribute for Javelin Line Infantry (improves their attack formation; fixes their ability to charge & engage; also prevents them from "infiltrating" the phalanx line)
- Revises phalanx unit mass (necessary to accomodate the now-working Javelin infantry)
- Changes bodyguard units for several starting general units and tweaks ethnicity
- Province renamed (Hayastan > Mets Hayk)
- Revises Barbarian (cul_5) strat map music (including two new tracks courtesy of Roma Surrectum II)
- Reduced Drink trait requirement for the Drinking Companion ancillary
- Major upgrades to the "BovineM2twCheck" tool (used by the mod team to spot a wide range of errors)
- Removes questionable history from Mets Hayk province description
- Adds fertility bonus to non-Barbarian Royal ethnicities
- Adds Adriatic section to Amber Route
- Games/Races icons altered for non-Roman cultures
- Adds a 20% naval discount to every AI faction in the port buildings
- Reworking of "building counter" scripts to use less monitors and collapsed some "AI fallbacks" into the same monitors as the checks
- War triggers script replaced with a simpler forumlation (57 fewer monitors) - all in all total number of monitors in the script brought under 1000.
- Adds a new tool for traversing a mod's files and compressing tga files
- Spy/assassin training now possible from caravan buildings

Europa Barbarorum II uses images from a wide variety of sources, either to inspire our own derivative
work or the original images themselves, modified or altered to some degree. Should image owners recognize
their work, we will either credit it specifically (if missing) or remove it at your request.

_XIII. A NOTE ON PERMISSION OF USE

This product is made available for private use as the EBII modification of the Medieval 2: Total War game.
Usage of mod material for the purposes of creating a submod for EB II is also authorized.
However, none of the contents in this modification may be shared, copied or used in any other way
without the express written consent of the EB II team, which may be contacted
through the TWC (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forum...-Barbarorum-II) or
ORG (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forum...-Barbarorum-II) game forums.
If you come across material which originates from this mod or its predecessor,
and which is not credited as such, please notify the team.

_XIV. MUSIC

EBII contains music from a large number of sources, and the terms under which it was provided to the mod
are covered in the file titled "License.txt" located in the mods\EBII\data\sounds\music\ folder.

wilddog and makanyane for their help with terrain, vegetation, porting of settlement models,
and solving settlement-related bugs and CTDs.

LordOfTheEmos for his jungle tree texture.

Jarlaxe for his buildings.

Kevin Van Lierde for his unit browser.

MIKE GOLF for his help in various things.

Xeofox and RTR for the "soft hat" steppe portraits.

The Org staff for their help and hosting our internal fora.

The Total War Center staff for their support with our fora.

Ludens for moderating our fora, having graciously accepted our request to do so.

The always supportive Tosa Inu, who sadly did not live to see the day of our release.

EB2 has had a lot of contributors come and go over a long time,
and the current team has probably forgotten about some of those along the way.
If your own contribution has been forgotten (and you want to be listed in the credits),
please contact us in the forum and we will sort it out.

And a very special thank you to the people who this modification was created for:
the keyboard consuls, screen watching strategoi, philosophising players and mouse clicking chieftains.
Thank you to every fan of Europa Barbarorum, whoever you are and wherever you are.
Thank you for sharing in our passion, thank you for supporting us and above all, we hope you have fun.

We also thank the following for inspiration: Monty Python, Caesar 3, Gladiatus, 0 A.D.

Thank you from the Europa Barbarorum II Team

Donations

The EBII team are volunteers who contribute their time and energy for free, and we don't want to change that. However, from time to time, we do elicit donations to cover our costs. These are for server hosting, which have come due recently. If you liked EBII enough to feel like you want to help the team, please see the link at the bottom of the EB website.

And finally...

In closing - EBII is still not complete. We are not finished - there will be future releases. We are at around 80% complete now - what we still need, what we always need, are more willing volunteers. If you are a 3D artist able to work with 3DS Max or Milkshape, or a 2D artist skilled with Photoshop who can work to instructions, we want you. If you have a knowledge in ancient history and a desire to contribute, we want you. If you are a scripter or coder, and have some familiarity with the files used here (compiled with C++ I believe), we want you. If you can proofread and edit XML files accurately, we want you. If you can playtest the ever-living crap out of a game, then do it all over again after a minor change, we want you. If you like the mod, and are eager to learn how to do something that can help to contribute, we want you. Apply here.

As ever, thank you for your support and remember to read more history.

Re: Announcement: Europa Barbarorum II 2.35 released!

Very exciting news, glad to see the team's vision is getting closer to completion.

In all these papers we see a love of honest work, an aversion to shams, a caution in the enunciation of conclusions, a distrust of rash generalizations and speculations based on uncertain premises. He was never anxious to add one more guess on doubtful matters in the hope of hitting the truth, or what might pass as such for a time, but was always ready to take infinite pains in the most careful testing of every theory. With these qualities was united a modesty which forbade the pushing of his own claims and desired no reputation except the unsought tribute of competent judges.